Page 14 - Nouns

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Lesson 4: Animate and inanimate nouns

Look at the following sentence: 1. The postcard saw the mailman. What is strange
about this sentence? What is strange is that we do not expect a postcard, which is not
alive, to be able to see something; only things that are alive have the ability to see. Nouns
that refer to things that are alive are called animate, while nouns that refer to things that
are not alive are called inanimate. Postcard is an inanimate noun and using it as an
animate one makes for a very unusual sentence.

Quick tip 4.1.
Animate nouns refer to things that are alive; inanimate nouns refer to things that are not
alive.

Test yourself 4.1.

Decide if each noun is animate or inanimate.

Example: apple inanimate

1. word

2. lizard
3. glasses

4. calendar

5. baby

6.criminal

7. furniture

8. doctor

9. mouse
10. truck